Resilient Cities Conference – Day I

You can tell a lot about a culture by its catchphrases.

Four years ago, “Resilient Cities” would probably not even have made the shortlist of potential names for the conference that opened today (Oct 20) at the Vancouver Convention Centre. Then, we were lodged firmly in the midst of a snowball of “sustainability”, and which created a mega motto for academics, politicians, businesses and the mainstream media. I can remember during my undergrad when sustainable forestry was the latest thing—now, even my shampoo is “sustainable”. These days you can’t turn on the TV, walk down the street or open a newspaper without stumbling across the ubiquitous “s” word.

So what’s the deal with “resilient”? Are the innovators and academics jumping ship now that the hordes have finally gotten on board? Or is something else afoot?

Well, there was actually a lot of talk about resiliency at the conference today. Perhaps unsurprisingly, keynote speaker Paul Hawken (author of Blessed Unrest-How the Largest Movement in the World Came Into Being, and Why No One Saw It Coming – I haven’t read it yet, but after hearing him speak it’s next on my to-read list) tackled the subject with a brand of insightful wit that somehow made the leap from Jungian psychology to the innate complexity and resiliency of cities seem completely logical. Much as I had devised from a quick Google search, resiliency is less about reaching some happy net-nothing state and more about responding to adversity. And luckily for us, cities are remarkably good at doing just that.

Major Gregor Robertson (call him “His Worship” at your own peril) also made an impressive appearance at the Resilient Cities podium although he didn’t seem to have gotten the memo in regards to terminology. He revealed the brand new “Vancouver 2020: A Bright Green Future” report that is meant to lead Vancouver to the top of the green-o-meter in just over a decade. If government policy reports don’t bore you to tears I highly recommend giving it a quick look; for policy dorks like me some of the targets his superhero Greenest City Action Team has set are pretty exciting.

The rest of the morning and afternoon were jam-packed with leaders and innovators from around the world. The mayor of Portland offered some healthy competition in Vancouver’s quest to be the greenest city in the world and Sarah Severn from Nike unveiled their newest ethos campaign where a “shoe doesn’t have to just be a shoe.” I remain slightly skeptical of any consumer-based multinational’s true intentions when it comes to green-washing but I’ll reluctantly say that Nike’s closed-loop production system where old materials can be recycled into new products does seem to have some merit.

Overall, the first day of the Resilient Cities conference was engaging, inspiring and left my head so full of ideas it feels like it might explode. Hopefully by tomorrow I’ll be ready for round two.